We were somewhat surprised last week to learn of a special edition Dodge Challenger that seems to have flown almost completely under the radar. As it turns out, Bob Frederick of New Wilmington Dodge in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, has worked with the folks at Chrysler to create a very short run of Challengers for the Kowalski Edition, a tip of the hat to the 1971 movie, Vanishing Point.

As most muscle car fans already know, the original movie featured a main character known simply as Kowalski, driving a white ’70 Challenger R/T that bore no stripes. The plot involved Kowalski’s attempt to win a bet by driving the Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in less than 15 hours. High-speed mayhem ensues and a cult classic was born.

Frederick has been a fan of the movie since he first saw it as a child, during a time when he was already familiar with Mopar performance cars because his father was operating a Dodge dealership in Ohio. By the time Chrysler finally re-entered the rear-drive passenger-car market, Bob had joined the family business and quickly became known as a source for Chrysler’s new generation of muscle cars.

Creating a modern-day Vanishing Point Challenger would seem a natural for a guy raised with such influences, and considering the movie car’s uncomplicated appearance in basic white with stock trim, pulling it off might look simple. In fact, Frederick had ordered some Challenger R/Ts in white when they became available for 2009, but he felt an actual tribute car should be based on the top-tier model, the SRT8. Only Chrysler wasn’t offering it in white.

Then a potential opportunity arose when Chrysler announced the 2011 392 Inaugural Edition Challenger SRT8, listing white among its available colors. That’s when Frederick began making calls to Auburn Hills.

“I met with the team and told them what I wanted: 2011 Challenger SRT8 392, six-speed manual, Bright White, stripe delete, Dark Slate SRT seats, WP3 Alcoa SRT aluminum 20-inch wheels, 730 Nav and SRT Option Group II…. I reminded them that the paint was already in the plant and that the unique SRT8 parts were already there in white as well, so it seemed logical that it could be done,” explained Frederick, acknowledging that he knew it might not be quite as simple as that sounds, particularly because he really wanted the cars to have sequential VINs.

The reality of today’s highly automated production facilities means that significant alterations to the normal product “recipes” can be troublesome, and perhaps deemed unworthy of the effort required by the mother ship. Fortunately, the team in Auburn Hills liked the idea enough to give it a try.

The short version is, it worked, and the result is the 2011 Challenger SRT8 Kowalski Edition. In addition to the factory options listed above, the Kowalski cars are fitted at the dealer with unique “Kowalski Edition” decals on the rear spoiler and under the hood along with a special numbered dash plaque and a custom fender tag mounted in the engine bay, plus a pair of Scat Pack bee decals for the quarter windows, reminiscent of the ones used on Dodge’s 1970 performance models. Inside, the Kowalski cars get ’70-style Hurst Pistol Grip shift handles with woodgrain grips and a six-speed shift-pattern insert; out back are Mopar chrome quad exhaust tips. The cars come with a unique broadcast sheet as well, and the cherry on top is a reproduction Colorado license plate with the same digits as the movie car.

Thanks to the efforts of Bob Frederick of New Wilmington Dodge, a batch of ten “Kowalski Edition” 2011 Challengers have been built. Featuring Bright White paint and no stripes, each of the special SRT8s received special badging in addition to upgraded shifters and exhaust tips.

The underhood ID plate unique to the Kowalski cars is meant to emulate the data plate used on Chrysler vehicles during the muscle car era; 57X was the Chrysler production code assigned to the special builds.

So just how many were built? Only 10, and all have already been spoken for. We were fortunate enough to get a look at the last one, owned by Melvin Benzaquen of Classic Restoration Enterprises in Sloatsburg, New York, last week. Benzaquen has owned a 2009 Challenger R/T and a 2010 SRT8, both six-speed manuals, and says the extra power of the new 392 is instantly apparent; he also says that the chassis refinements for 2011 make the big Challenger seem much more nimble. Despite this, he says he probably won’t be putting many miles on his Kowalski Edition, and we’d imagine most owners feel similarly, though we hear tell of one that’s being fitted with a supercharger as this is written. Let’s hope there are no bulldozers in its future.

Love the concept BUT why just 10? All this does is guarantee that these cars will just bounce from collector to collector and
probably never see the street. Shame on Dodge for limiting the run and not giving the average guy a chance at owning one.

From the blog, this wasn’t directly from Dodge but rather a dealer who arranged a run of ten with white paint and other specifics.

Why didn’t Dodge themselves do this instead of a dealer? I’ve been a Chrysler fan for over thirty years and just do not understand why they can’t market, advertise and generally promote their product. As mush as I don’t like Ford products, they’ve got their marketing act together.

It’s funny though, there’s no mention of licensing since 20th Century Fox owns the rights to Vanishing Point…

Wrong.. Dodge shut down production to build these 10 special cars with 57x prefix in the vin which is the COPO code for Dodge. I own number 1 of 10 built aka K1 .Bob Frederick was the dealer the cars where sent to after being built. I was speaking to a Dodge Rep that they needed to build 10 special Kowalski editions .. That’s how it all came to be as Dodge also thought it would be a great idea,and made great efforts to have these cars built. The computer system had to be adjusted for these special vins to roll down the line in sequence it was a mammoth effort and so appreciated by each lucky owner. One just sold for 75K and another is in a palace in Saudi Arabia.# 1 is mine and next to me hellcat :))

before you scream about the limited numbers you have to know in the year 2011 there will only be 1100 392′s produced, this makes the 392 a collector’s item right away these 10 will be even more so. the marketing is under the radar but there will not be many 392′s period.

You have to look at the history of cars like this. Look at the Berger 3rd Generation Camaro’s they would make 50 to 75 of them & could not sell all of them. Same thing with the Earhart Camaro’s, they were not really moving till his death. If this batch goes well, the will work on possibly making some in the next years. Small batch specialized cars is a weird market. Some sell great, other don’t

When I learned that Mother Mopar was coming back out with the Challenger, I was extremely happy that they were re-introducing it. That said, I also was afraid that they’d do what they did……price them out of the reach of the common working stiff. It’s neat that they’re paying homage to the movie, through the efforts of a dealer with some marketing savvy. I don’t suppose that even if they made more of them, the price would go down, due to the ” limited edition ” aspect. I’ll keep my ‘ 71 Challenger convertible that I’ve owned since the mid-70′s, thank-you, and let the ones with deep pockets fight over the rest.

1 of my 2 or 3 favorite movies of all time, since seeing it on the big screen @ a very impressionable 10 years old & own Collectors Edition DVD, etc…. One element of the beginning of life long car hobby, (habit?)…. Would settle for just a White, SRT8, sans the stripes, with aftermarket pistol grip shifter…… for now, have to settle for my limited edition, Ertl, 1/18 scale model of the Vanishing Point Challenger. Would think Dodge would have done these, considering how many Challengers this classic film helped to sell…. With the new model in production for several years, as well as with all the recent remakes of classic 70′s films, this would seem to be a natural to be updated. Maybe too politically correct environment for it ??? I would love to see it done….

I was a viewer of this movie in its edited for “Late Night TV Movies” version back several decades before paid infomercials were allowed to destroy late night re-run movies. Imagine my surprise when I got to see the full uncut DVD of Vanishing Point. The Hippy Girl on the Motorcycle scene was quite unexpected but enjoyed…

As an aside-
Per the movie on DVD- Great movie but the DVD version of the director’s voice-over comments has to be the worst I have ever heard. What a pompous and self centered goob- no wonder the special edition editors couldn’t get anyone else to sit in on the voice over on the film’s history.

180° from “the Vanishing Point” director’s voice over is the voice over of Kurt Russel and the director from the movie “Used Cars”. That was hilarious in itself to learn about the crazy stuff behind the scenes.

I read somewhere the owner of the # 1 car is having it supercharged and its at Vortech days after he drove it out to So Cal for spring Fest 6.From what I read its going to be Vortechs sema Car,and it is written up all over the web.

Thats beyond cool that car will be the King of all 10 built the guy lives in Michigan near Detroit I saw a bunch of stuff on Dodges web site a week or so ago.

Great article as for some that say they won’t be driven I drove my heavily modified 09R/T across country with Mike owner of car #1 as we went to Spring Fest in Irvine CA. The car performed flawlessly on the trek across country, heavy rains in MO. Snow in Flagstaff, AZ 4-6 inches and dust storms in Albuquerque, NM
And yes it’s true #1 is being supercharged as this was discussed with Bob prior to production.
While out there car #7 became available and I purchased her on the spot with a handshake. I can say is Dodge got it right and I will be driving here to different events as the car was just made to drive and be seen by the public. Hope to see you around this summer…

Anyone my age (59) buys the car for the nostalgia effect and enjoy it for that, if I was going to get a fast car I would buy a Masseratti but then again that guy went 185 and now he dont drive lol. Love my Rt. All the my car is faster then yours I love it.

Nostalgia is cool yes. I love ‘Vanishing Point’ because it’s a great snap shot of its era.

I dont need ‘the kowalski edition’ car to live it. Everytime I get a new ride I take it out to a favorite highway and hold it to the floor to see where the governor is at.

I think I’d rather spend the extra money sooping up a stock model. I dont need your plaques and monikers to tell me I’M FREE, and guess what, neither did the character. Wasn’t that the point of it? Man under the radar, no titles, just him and the cars.